I've been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I started selling cool rocks even before I sold lemonade. At age 8, I hired my two friends to deliver newspapers and gave them 75 cents a day, and I kept 25 cents. I've gone on to start much larger companies, divisions within companies, both within the US and outside, that have led to both success and failure. Venture backed, partnerships, bootstrapped, high growth, retail, commercial real estate, technology, energy, B2B, B2C, B20 - nobody is there to buy) and more. I’ve learned my greatest life and business lessons from my failures. I recently completed a book for Wiley & Sons, entitled The 7 Non Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results, which you can read about here: http://www.7nns.com. My current company, Fishbowl, is a culmination of everything I’ve learned over my 30-plus business years.

The Secrets To Becoming A Great Leader Revealed

Our company survived over a decade of ups and downs in the business world because our team is made of the “right stuff.” It’s not DNA. You don’t have to be born with it. You don’t have to graduate from a prestigious institution or inherit a trust fund. Leadership is a skill we can all learn and continue to refine throughout our lifetime. Leaders often emerge during the most trying times.

We want to share with you the characteristics that we recognized in our team with the hope that you can “try them on” and see how they work for you. We are often asked, “What is the secret sauce – the recipe for knowing if you are a great contributor and a great leader?” There are a multitude of recipes (characteristics).

One very interesting point: our team believes that great leaders first see and appreciate the goodness in others. When you have the opportunity to work with inspiring, thoughtful, forgiving, and understanding people, it naturally rubs off. Most likely you have heard this before. The part that most people miss is that they think the “leader” they can learn the most from is someone at the top of the organization, “an influencer.” The world has changed and today the leader is one with the skills leading out, making a difference, and producing results.

Take a leap of faith to become a great leader.

Here are 6 common leadership characteristics that we talk about in the 7NNs:

1. Extraordinary workers can adapt quickly to change and they are open to new ideas. Most are not born with this skill, but learn it and refine it over time.

2. They are hard workers. They can go longer and create more than the average person. My son, Cameron, only lived 25 years, but he worked and served enough for two lifetimes in his short time on this earth. He was extraordinary and he was a loyal, creative worker.

3. They understand what empowerment means and immediately get down to business creating good things that produce prosperity all around them. They require little guidance and intuitively know how to build great things.

4. They never feel like they have done enough, and this internal drive sets them apart from the crowd.

5. They are constantly moving and creating and helping others to do the same. Extraordinary people are in the game of work sweating, scoring, and sometimes even getting a bit bruised. They intuitively build for something bigger than themselves and for the joy of creating.

6. They are often misunderstood and sometimes unfairly labeled and judged. Yet they don’t pass on the negativity or doubt. They don’t snuff the light and energy out of other people’s dreams and ideas. Instead, they are happy to add their thoughts and suggestions with no concern for who ultimately receives the credit.

We encourage other leaders to loosen the reins or, better yet, remove them altogether. Set some clear guidelines for your team members and then let them do their thing as only they can. Help them when they need it.

Most companies don’t really empower people – managers tell their employees to go do something, but the employees always have a rope around their necks, and as soon as they make a mistake or they get close to falling off a cliff that rope is yanked and their empowerment is gone.

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I love the rope analogy. We never get the best from people if they always feel the rope, and know that one small failure results in the rope being pulled. People that feel truly empowered will always perform.

Unfortunately the rope is used more than not. I believe that many leaders don’t even know that they have a rope on their employees and it’s like a dog on a chain. You can run at full speed to get your head yanked back hard only so many time. Then the dog (us) only go as far as the chain is and become complacent and docile in time.

I’m so glad that you refer strongly in the video to “culture”, Dave. The reality is that the 7 Non Negotiables are self rewarding and self sustaining if they exist in a culture that truly aspires and adopts them. If you want to retain people, and I mean retain GOOD people, the 7 NNs need to be practiced at the top down. I’m appreciative and grateful that we have that here at Fishbowl. Great job!

The greatest thing about this article is as I was reading, so many people from Fishbowl popped into my head. We have an amazing company and this article is an awesome reminder of what true leadership is. Thank you!